Contents

Illustrations

Maps and Meaning

1. Comprehending the Great Basin

To wayfarers in the early twenty-first century, the Great Basin is
one of those seemingly empty spaces that once punished the traveler but are
now easily crossed unless one makes a mistake or miscalculation. Moving
miles high above the region in an airplane, passengers who bother to look
down see a series of dark, rugged mountain ranges that alternate with white
salt flats. ...

2. The Power of Terra Incognita: 1540–1700

In 1540, Sebastian Münster stood back as he put the finishing touches
on a work of art—the beautiful map he titled Tabula Novarum Insularum,
quas Diversis Respectibus Occidentalis & Indianas Vocant (fig. 2.1).Working in
Amsterdam, Münster and his associates prepared this map using the latest
technology—a woodcut design that required them to carve the original
image in reverse. ...

3. Maps and Early Spanish Exploration: 1700–1795

Mapping, like exploration, does not proceed evenly over large areas.
Although portions of what we would later call the Southwest, especially
New Mexico,were rapidly explored, mapped, and even settled in the 1600s,
the Great Basin was not. That discrepancy is attributable, for the most part,
to two factors: the Rio Grande Valley, which served as a corridor for Spanish
infiltration, and the distribution of Indian peoples, who attracted the
Spaniards like a magnet. ...

4. In the Path of Westward Expansion: 1795–1825

Sometimes maps reveal leaps in knowledge or leaps of faith. Among the
most remarkable depictions of the Interior West is that found on William
Winterbotham’s 1795 North America (fig. 4.1). This fascinating map appeared
in Winterbotham’s popular American Atlas. At this time, demand had
increased for such books of bound-together maps that featured portions of
the world in considerable detail.Winterbotham’s North America represents a
milestone in popular printed maps. ...

5. Demystifying Terra Incognita: 1825–1850

The early-to-mid-nineteenth century marked a time when cartographers
scrambled to try to depict the topography and hydrology of the West accurately.
Despite their efforts, however, considerable speculation was common,
and errors frequent. Consider Anthony Finley’s interesting but conflicted
Map of Western America (fig. 5.1). ...

6. Maps in the Sand: 1850–1865

Explorers helped demystify the Great Basin by the mid-1840s, but
the pace of demystification dramatically increased as westward-moving pioneers
traversed the region shortly thereafter. News and stories about the
pioneers’ exploits were eagerly awaited by those who remained in the East
as the drama of western settlement took center stage. ...

7. Filling in the Blanks: 1865–1900

By the mid-1860s, political realities and divisions further
shaped both popular perceptions and the mapping of the Great Basin.
Before that time, the region had been part of one larger political entity—
for example, Upper California (until the 1840s), Mormon Deseret (late
1840s to the early 1850s), or broadly, Utah Territory (in the 1850s and early
1860s). ...

8. Maps of the Modern/Postmodern Great Basin: 1900–2005

The twentieth century brought phenomenal changes to the Great
Basin. Several factors, including the development of the automobile and air
travel, were to revolutionize both society and place here as elsewhere. Sites
associated with the defense industry flourished, and cities like Las Vegas, Salt
Lake, and Reno boomed. And yet many traditional activities begun in the
nineteenth century, such as ranching, persisted. Mining also maintained its
strong presence in the Great Basin. ...

9. Comprehending Cartographic Change

On February 1, 2003, the predawn darkness over the southern
Great Basin was briefly interrupted by a streak of light that flashed from
west to east at 20,000 miles per hour. To those who saw it, the reentry of
the space shuttle Columbia seemed like a shooting star, but this was normal
for a spacecraft entering the outer layers of the atmosphere. Unbeknownst
to these observers, however, the Columbia was in trouble ...

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